Neighbor angry over apparent criminal activities, but homeowner claims he is cleaning up

By Pierrette J. ShieldsLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
01/10/2014 06:06:11 PM MST

Updated:
01/11/2014 11:37:14 AM MST

Sean Milano moved to Longmont in October with his wife and 1-year-old son after they drained their life savings to buy their dream home.

Vibrant holiday lights adorn the home tucked behind a white fence across the street from a Catholic church and school. Inside, the home is immaculate with hardwood floors and stockings for each family member -- including the dog -- still hanging over a fireplace.

But Milano said moving to Longmont has been a nightmare for the young family.

Police raided the home next door at 330 Collyer St. on Dec. 20, characterizing the house as a "flophouse" that has served as a home base for meth dealers. Milano watched from his home as SWAT officers broke out a window and cleared out the house of 13 people and an infant. The lights on his house were his ongoing and elaborate effort to try to signal to strangers that his house is not a place to crash or buy or use drugs.

Neighbor Sean Milano on Friday, January 10, 2014, describes what it's like living next to 330 Collyer St., a home officials are considering to designate a nuisance house.
(
LEWIS GEYER
)

While Milano and his wife dealt with comings and goings, strangers in their yard and at their door at all hours, they had never seen or met homeowner Silverio Nuanez.

"The first time we even saw him was when he was held at gunpoint during the SWAT raid," Milano said, adding he later found out that it was the third raid on the house. Five people were arrested on outstanding warrants and an infant found living in the squalid conditions was turned over to social services, police reported.

Milano said he is frustrated, angry and exhausted. The activity at the neighboring home is scary for him, and since they have moved in they have seen all sorts of unsettling activities, including a midnight visit from a man who was too intoxicated to understand instructions to get off of his porch. Horror stories about screaming and incoherent tirades from drug users and even an attack on a neighbor have the family on constant guard. He said they have considered giving up because it doesn't seem like police intervention has quelled drug activity next door.

"We vowed to each other that we are not going to just pass this problem on to another couple like us," he said. He added that it should be easier for the government to step in to protect residents from conditions like those that are just a few feet from his dream home. Drug arrests should amount to real jail time and fines to deter the behavior, he said.

Instead, he has called the police repeatedly, written a letter to the editor, and contacted his city councilman for relief.

They want to sit on their porch without running into someone high on drugs who is potentially dangerous. He wants to have peaceful nights without finding a stranger on his porch trying to get into his house. He said it seems like people meet at the OUR Center to get a free meal and then head to his neighbor's home for drug use.

"I want them to bulldoze that house and put in a community garden," Milano wrote about the situation in an e-mail to the Times-Call. "It's a house horrors and as long as it's there the residents here will never feel safe."

Next door, Nuanez said he is working with officials and pointed to a large pile of junk and detritus in his front yard that he and others pulled out of the house.

Neighbor Sean Milano talks about his frustration Friday, Jan. 10, 2014, living next to 330 Collyer St., a home officials are considering to designate a nuisance house.
(
LEWIS GEYER
)

When his home was raided, Longmont code enforcement inspected the property and gave him 14 days to clean up.

Code enforcement inspector Shannon Stadler said Nuanez was cited for having too many people in the home, for having someone living in a bedroom that failed to meet code, for a bed bug infestation, makeshift wiring, and for lack of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

"They have made marked improvement on a lot of things," she said after a follow-up inspection Friday. "They cleaned out the basement; nobody is living there anymore. They are gone."

In a search warrant for the property that SWAT served in December, police wrote that Nuanez allowed users to stay in the home because he used meth with them. The search did not turn up any drugs in his bedroom that day and he was not arrested.

He said Friday that he has opened his home to friends who faced sleeping outdoors in winter conditions. He denied the house was used for drug dealing or use. He said he has lived in the home for 23 years and believes Milano's home was built too big, which puts the houses too close together, causing some of the problems. Nuanez added that other neighbors have guests come and go and he doesn't understand how the activity at his house is against the law. All the same, he said, he told friends they can't stay with him anymore.

Stadler said he was ticketed Friday on suspicion of failing to have the bed bugs professionally exterminated and the required number of smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors installed. She also gave him until Jan. 24 to remove the junk from the front yard, which the city will do if he does not. In that case, the city will bill him for the work and if he doesn't pay a lien could be placed on the home.

Longmont police Cmdr. Jeff Satur said the SWAT raids have not totally curbed problems at the house and he understands Milano's frustration. Police are building a case to have Nuanez's home designated legally as a class-2 nuisance property. The Boulder County District Attorney's Office is set to review the case, which would allow them to ask a judge to place special rules on the use of the home, which if violated, in the most extreme case could mean the loss of the property.

"We are continuing to build our public nuisance case," he said. "Optimally, I would hope that it would mean that they would no longer have drug offenders, drug users hanging out in their yards. I would hope they would have an increased sense of safety in their neighborhood."

Both police and Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett said a nuisance designation is major decision for law enforcement because it can lead to the loss of private property.

"When you are talking about somebody's home, I think that is a high level of accountability," Satur said of the rare legal move. "You don't want it to be easy to have that kind of government intrusion. It has got a high bar attached to it."

Only one other home has been designated a nuisance in Boulder County -- 103 E. St. Clair Ave. -- which is also in Longmont. Satur said the rules placed on the house improved neighborhood conditions considerably after the declaration.

Garnett characterized Colorado's nuisance laws as some of the most restrictive in the country. The type of nuisance case that Nuanez could face falls far shy of stripping him of his house so long as he followed any rules.

"It essentially puts the use of the property under court supervision," Garnett said. "It is a whole lot less drastic than coming in and trying to take the property. ... It is an additional tool to maintain public safety."

Garnett said his office only has the authority to take a case to court, but it would be up to a judge to determine whether the case is a legal nuisance. Nuanez only would face a possible loss of his home if it were declared a nuisance, and he was found in contempt repeatedly for noncompliance.

Milano said he and his wife wish it was easier for the government to step in, even though he considers himself anti-establishment. He said he would never fear the government taking his home because he is law-abiding.

Meanwhile, he just tries to keep the blinds closed and ignore the activity outside unless it ends up in his yard.

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